Let the Obstruction Begin!

[JustWinBaby]

(11-15-2016, 04:28 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: This isn't surprising. I stopped bitching about obstruction a few years back (minus the SCOTUS appointment, because that was bullshit) because it's just going to be the norm for years. The ideology of both parties is shifting to the poles. The mean ideology of each side in Congress is as close, if not closer, to the extreme than it is to the centrist line. 15-20 years ago those means were closer to each other than they were to the extremes.

This is going to be the way our federal political landscape is for years until we get tired of it and vote people into office that will actually be compromising.

I don't think it's a bad thing, at all.  If you can't get a few votes from the other side, then it's probably not good policy. These days I generally favor the Congress doing nothing over doing harm (and Boehner may not have been that far off when he talked about fixing bad laws before making new laws).

Otherwise, I do take issue with the leadership of the Democratic party going far left in the past 10 years or so.  Aside from Trump (who's not really a Repub), and the hijacking of a vocal and influential Tea Party, that's not really the case with the Repubs (more a case with their voters).  Paul Ryan, IMO, is still about as moderate and rational as anyone in Congress.  Unfortunately, McConnell has become kind of Harry Reid lite because he has a bigger problem with the Tea Party and a slim majority than Paul Ryan does.

And I see the need for people like Warren and Pelosi and Cruz, despite how much I despise them.  They are vital to moving the country forward responsibly.  But it's a problem when their ideas and influence move from the periphery to the core.